Legislation that would make it more difficult to cover up the causes of
deaths in jails, prisons and private detention centers appears poised to
pass Congress after years of unreported abuse, particularly in
facilities housing immigration detainees.

Just a week removed from the 2010 election, Rhode Island's political class has already turned its attention to the 2012 races, with state GOP chairman Giovanni Cicione floating his own name for a run against US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse - and suggesting that outgoing governor Donald Carcieri or Warwick Mayor Scott Avedesian might make even better candidates.

The Post reports tension within the Kennedy clan over the idea. And retiring Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who has been fairly open about his difficult relationship with his stepmother, is among the doubters:

Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed is one of seven Senate Democrats named to a House-Senate panel that will iron out the differences between the two chambers' versions of a sweeping financial overhaul bill.

Reed, a senior member of the Senate banking committee, helped craft the legislation. But he enters the conference amid significant disappointments:

National Journal has published its annual vote rankings and Rhode Island's senators, Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, are tied with three other Democrats - Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Roland Burris of Illinois, and Ben Cardin of Maryland - as the most liberal in the chamber.

With neither senator up for re-election this fall, Rhode Island Republicans will not be able to exploit their records when the attacks might have the maximum appeal.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, seeking a new term, seems to be running up against a Democratic Party eager - for ideological and political reasons - to strike a populist blow against those associated with Wall Street excess and the financial collapse.

Bernanke needs Senate confirmation. And two key Democratic senators, Barbara Boxer of California and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, have already come out against him.

An editorial in our sister paper, the Boston Phoenix, explains the larger significance of Republican Scott Brown's victory over Democrat Martha Coakley in the race for the Massachusetts Senate seat once held by Ted Kennedy. An excerpt:

Considered in concert with last fall’s loss of the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey, Brown’s election spells trouble for the Democrats nationwide.

Much of the chatter about the Massachusetts Senate campaign has focused on how Democrat Martha Coakley lost the race. The Phoenix's David Bernstein takes a look at how Brown won. And he argues, in part, that Brown replayed Barack Obama's strategy in the Iowa caucuses that jumpstarted his campaign:

As that campaign's manager David Plouffe describes in The Audacity To Win, Obama's strategists knew from the start that they could not beat Hillary Clinton among the people who normally participate in caucuses.

The unexpectedly close race for the US Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy is generating high turnout in Massachusetts. In theory, that bodes well for Democrat Martha Coakley, who has watched her lead over Republican Scott Brown evaporate in a matter of weeks: Democrats, who outnumber Republicans by a wide margin in the state, have traditionally done best at getting out the vote.

The Boston Globe reports that President Obama will visit Massachusetts this weekend to campaign for Democrat Martha Coakley, who is facing a surprisingly tough challenge from Republican Scott Brown for the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat.

It is a high-stakes gambit for the president, whose spokesman said as recently as Monday that he had no plans to travel to the Bay State.

The periodic chatter about Senator Jack Reed serving as Secretary of Defense in the Obama Administration should go quiet for awhile, with news that Secretary Robert Gates plans to stay on at least through 2010. From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON—Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the most prominent Republican in President Barack Obama's inner circle, plans to remain in his Cabinet post for at least another year.

Several months ago, talk of Senator Christopher Dodd leaving the powerful banking committee sparked fevered speculation that Senator Jack Reed might leapfrog the more senior Senator Tim Johnson, slowed by a stroke, and take control of the panel. That all died down when Dodd decided to stay put. But now that Dodd has announced his retirement, the chatter has begun again.